New Jersey Rep. Jon Runyan is calling on his Democratic challenger to apologize for a since-pulled ad comparing the Republican to Hurricane Sandy.

“Shelley Adler should immediately take down this ridiculous and insulting ad, and publicly apologize to the people of Ocean and Burlington Counties, many of whom have been devastated by Hurricane Sandy,” Runyan’s campaign manager said in a statement on Thursday. “Shelley Adler’s campaign has been dishonest and nasty from the start, but she should be embarrassed by her decision to ever run this radio ad. It really brings her judgment into question.”

Adler’s ad began airing Saturday on a 101.5 FM, a news station in New Jersey. The ad compared Runyan to the impending “Frankenstorm.”

“They’re calling it ‘Frankenstorm’ – a nor’easter inside of a hurricane. In New Jersey, we’ve seen acts of nature do real damage,” an announcer says over sounds of wind and rain. “We’re also seeing our own member of Congress do lasting damage in Washington. Jon Runyan has been in Congress only two short years, and already he’s voted over and over again against New Jersey workers and families.”

The ad was produced and beginning airing before the storm hit Monday, and Adler spokesman Michael Mullen told the Philadelphia Inquirer the campaign asked for it to be pulled Tuesday. The ad was taken off the airwaves on Wednesday. The ad buy was small: between $4,000 and $5,000. Mullen said Runyan was trying to politicize the storm.

“It is appalling that Congressman Runyan, in the middle of this huge catastrophe, is trying to bring politics into the relief effort,” Mullen said in a statement to the Inquirer. “What Congressman Runyan is trying to do is to divert attention from his record on disaster relief. In the guise of calling attention to an ad which in no way denigrates or minimizes the storm that was impending at the time it was released, he is trying to proactively turn his back on inspection of his record as it relates to disaster relief.”

A poll released in October showed Runyan leading Adler, 49 percent to 39 percent. Runyan won the seat in 2010 by defeating then-Rep. John Adler, Shelly’s late husband.